Set the Skies Ablaze
by EvnyLover
Summary: Fern Abigale has has a pretty sucky life right from the start. From being abandoned on the doorstep of an orphange as a baby to her newest problem, BEING A CHIMERA! having being stuck in Lab 5 for 9 years, she escapes and runs into the most colorful of characters... OC Rated T for swearing.
1. Prologue

**Hi people who hopefully will be reading this story! **

**This is my first ever Fanfic and i always loved the idea of the Chimeras in FMA so i decided to try my hand at a fanfiction of one as the main character. updates are whenever i can think of a new chapter and i will try my hardest to not give up on this story, i hate it when people do that. **

**No pairing yet but there might be later on in the story.**

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_It hurts, everything hurts. What did I ever do to them? Why are they doing these things to me and the others here? _

"Prisoner 242 was another failure sir" I heard a scientist whisper just outside the room. It was dark and musty in the room. Endless cages filled with chimeras of all sizes and animals stared back at me as the snarls, whimpers and screams filled the night. Was it night? I couldn't tell anymore; I had been stuck down in this hellhole of a lab for too long, most of my life actually.

"_Where are we going mister?" a young girl of about eight asked the man leading here away from the house. She has dark brown hair that went all the way down to her mid back in an unruly rat's nest; her big brown eyes looked trustingly at the man whose hand she was clinging to._

"_You're coming to work with me today Fern." Her eyes lit up as they walked down the sidewalks of Central. When she was a baby, her parent had abandoned her on the steps of an orphanage and run away. She grew up fighting to stay alive and hoping to find a home someday. That day finally came when she was six, a tall man with brown spiky hair and thick square glasses came and adopted her. He had a sharp face with a little bit of a stubble starting to show on his chin. _

"_Hey kid what's your name?" he asked after he had signed the adoption papers and was driving back to my new home._

"_F-f-Fern…" the little girl said, scared for the first time about what this new life would bring. _

"_My name is Dr. Knox kiddo." The little girl's fists tightened at the word "kiddo" but took no notice to her reaction. "Not a little kid mister" she grumbled._

_ The next few months went by with no trouble and the little girl even began to trust the old man. Every night he would come home from work with a tired look on his face and covered in sweat. The little girl learned quickly to tuck herself into bed but that didn't stop the Doc from coming to check on her every single night. When she got a bit older she began to ask if she could come to work with the old man. Every time she asked he always said no._

"_But I'm a big girl now! I can help you at your work!" she protested as he shot down her request once again. She didn't even know where he worked because he refused to tell her. Finally, after asking incessantly for one week straight, he came home one night with a haunted look in his eye; when she asked him, he turned to her with a pained smile and said "yeah kiddo, of course you can."_

_ As they turned a corner the little girl saw a huge building in front of her. It was an enormous building of white bricks, with two soldiers guarding the entrance. As the old man showed his credentials to get into the building one of the guards asked him "is that your daughter sir? She's a beauty!" he said. _

"_Not after today she won't be…." He murmured to the wind._

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**Whoot! first chapter done and yeah i know its a short on but hey, it the prologue. **

**Fern:*cough* 550 to be exact (lazy putz)**

**Shut up!**

**PLEASE READ AND REVEIW!**


	2. Chapter 1: Escaping Lab 5

**Hello again readers! i think maybe one or two of you might have noticed that this was originally called "Tiger Waiting to be Tamed" but i found out there was another story with that name so i changed it. **

**Chapter 1! i promise its longer than the prologue and explains a fews questions.**

**Fern: not much longer, tsk tsk**

**Hush you**

**I don't own FMA! only Fern and anyone who cannon fodder.**

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I awoke in my dank cage to what I assumed was morning. Having not seen the light of day for nine years, I can't exactly have the luxury of checking a window. Windows? Where we're going we don't need windows.

I have been living under lab five for the past nine year after my "Old Man" took me to work one day, little did I know it was because I was going to be some sick experiment. The good 'ole basted had soon quit working here after he handed me over to the scientists. They were originally going to turn me into a tiger chimera, but then they got a better idea *sarcasm*. I am the first person to be crossed with an already made chimera.

From what I can tell you of the scientist talking and from personal experience, creating a chimera works like this: in the term of alchemic transmutations, animal don't have souls or have very weak ones but strong instincts. Because of this most animal chimeras fail or don't live that long after they are made. But humans have very strong souls but little to no instincts left in them. When a human and animal are combined, the human should must wrestle with the animal instinct for who takes control of the body (this is all and internal struggle while the two bodies are merged). If the animal wins, it becomes a human chimera, where it is more beast than human. If the human wins, it becomes a chimera human, where the human still obtains some characteristics of the beast. Needless to say I won that fight.

I curled up in the small cage I was in, my naked body resting against the bars of the cage. I looked down at myself, I bet if I could see myself I would look dam terrifying to any regular human. A long lizard-like tail protrude from above my butt, making sitting or lying down hard sometimes. It was covered in pitch black scales and has sort of fin/spikes at the end of it. Two long, bat wings hung limply from my back as they too were black and leathery. I ran my nail/claws against the side of the cage, making music to my ears among the screeches from the other chimera humans. I sighed as I could see the faint outline of the door in the dark; the guard was pacing outside the door. I could see quite well in the dark, and could see the new person they had thrown in here earlier.

_ Experiment 242 was it…? _I wondered as the boy shivered in the corner, it looked like he had been crossed with some fish thing and it had ended badly. He had huge fish lips and clearly seen gills on the side of his neck, they were gasping for oxygen for his scaly body. I knew the boy wouldn't live and soon they would be in here to kill him. Watching fellow chimera's die was always rough on the rest of us. They were people we could relate too and trust, even if they were new. We had all been there and some were still stuck.

The door swung open and the guard and a scientist walked in. my cage was unlocked and I was led out as the solider aimed his gun at the fish-boy. There was a bang at the exact moment the metal door closed. I couldn't hear it over the door's noise but I knew that boy was dead. We entered a room with a large alchemic circle and lots of scientists. I was instructed to lie down in the circle. Yeah, because I'm going to sit there like a good little girl while you turn me into a monster.

"With all due respect sir, screw you" I said with a straight face as the scientist who had asked me turned red. I wasn't sure if it was out of anger or embarrassment; either way, it was funny as hell to watch their fluster expressions. I felt a sharp pain in my back and saw one of the guards had shot me with a tranquilizer dart. "How rude!" I said, acting all offended and then I passed out.

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I woke up later in my cage with my head feeling like it had been run over with a truck. My ears hurt, wait my ears? I softly touched the now long and fuzzy ears that were on the side of my head. Great, now they were even fucking with my face. I would have kept looking for changes but suddenly I heard an explosion upstairs, right above our room. Moments later soldiers were storming into our room and shouting things around the room. All of this was very disorienting for my ears and I curled up in a ball in my cage. I heard the lock click on my cage and I looked up to see a man with raven hair and black eyes staring at me. He smirked and offered his hand. Taking advantage of the situation, I kicked the smirking weirdo in the face and proceeded to run like hell down the long corridors of the lab.

_ I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHERE I'M GOING!_ I screamed in my mind as I kept running down the twisting and seemingly never ending hallways. The shout of soldiers could be heard behind me so I decided to see just how fast I could run. Running like truth was behind me, made it up a pair of stair and discovered I was on the roof. Well shit.

As I looked behind I saw the man I had face kicked earlier at the head of the group. "I am cornel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Who are you?" he asked in a very bold and demanding tone. Now it was my turn to smirk.

"Congratulations, that means nothing to me man. And your part of the military, you should know what experiment I am." I retorted as he stood there looking very pompous and arrogant. The look on his face was priceless in his moment of understanding I was a chimera. "You're a chimera?" he said slowly, as if he couldn't wrap his head around that fact. At this point all the soldiers raised their guns at me. "Aww, you hurt my feeling." I mocked at the soldiers.

"Give the boy a prize!" I said cheerfully and clapping my hands. "Have been for 9 years now and am about as screwed up as you can be."

"What is your name?" he repeated, more forceful now and clearly irritated with me. "What chimera are you exactly?"

"Oh course, where are my manners?" I exclaimed "I am experiment 666: the Dragon Chimera" and with that I jumped off the building.

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**Yay! chapter 1 done and its over 1000 words. **

**hahaha, i hate that Usless Alchemist and he deserved a good face-kicking.**

**PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. FLAMES WELCOME!**


	3. Chapter 2:Who are you?

**Hello to all my readers!**

**My first day up and i already have 2 reveiws! thank you guys so much for this, a writer never knows how people feel about their story unless people reveiw**

**NewfieSandy: Thank you for the advice! i think i will wait untill i get at least one new review for this chapter untill i release the next one, i feel like i am releasing them too fast and people dont have time to review.**

**The Oceandream Alchemist: Thank you for offering you help! i am new to the whole writing thing and i know i am going to get a writers block dropped on my head during this story. its nice to know someone will be there i could shoot ideas off of.**

**so here it is! chapter 3 and the introduction of the Palmtree and the Shrimp!**

**Enjoy! R&R**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THIS AWESOME SHOW! i just own my character Fern!**

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_"What is your name?" he repeated, more forceful now and clearly irritated with me. "What chimera are you exactly?"_

_"Oh course, where are my manners?" I exclaimed "I am experiment 666: the Dragon Chimera" and with that I jumped off the building._

The air was rushing past my face as I just fell there, all of a sudden my brain seemed to register I was falling and my wing quickly snapped open with a "HOLY SHIT!"On my part. Thankfully my wings caught air and yanked me back upwards. _Ow_, I thought to myself, _no sudden crazy jumps of building from now on_. I heard screams down below my and saw people on the street looking at me in horror. What was the monster they turned me into really that scary looking? They hadn't even seen the best part. The thought occurred to me to look down and I blushed as I realized I was still naked; _basically run through Central completely nude, check_. Realizing this I dropped into a nearby alleyway to look for some clothes, maybe steal some off a hobo, they don't need the right?

"m-m, MONSTER!" a military woman screamed as I dropped into a small dead end alley about a block away from Lab 5. The woman pulled a gun from her hip and tried to fire a few rounds into me. Dashing, flipping, and overall running like hell, I managed to get close enough and slashed her hand with my nail/ claw thingies. Upon this she abruptly dropped the gun and I took the opportunity to slam her throat against the alley wall.

"I'm a monster now am I?" I growled as the lady was fighting for her life, her blue eyes wide with fear; I squeezed tighter. "I might be a monster, but it was you're dam military that made me this way so you had better re-think that high and noble cause you serve, because it's full of shit." The lady was struggling much less now so I figured why not prove her right? And with that I snapped her neck like a twig.

I was blinded as the woman in front of me was bathed in a red-white light from traveling up her body. When the light stopped there was a green haired teenage… Actually I didn't know what gender it was but whatever _it_ was, it looked very annoyed and looked very dangerous in all that could be achieved by a thing wearing a skirt. I couldn't help it, I busted up laughing. This action seemed to bring a look of annoyance and confusion even more prominently to the… okay I'm gonna say it is a man, which made me laugh even more. I soon found out that this action warranted a knife against my throat, but the knife was made out of his arm. Now it was his turn to press my throat against a wall, but if he expected me to beg for my life or show fear he could kiss my-

"Explain to me, just what is so funny?" he hissed in a low voice. I blinked, even the voice made it hard to tell what gender it was. I was going by the abs and saying it was a boy. His hair was a deep forest green color and reached all the way down to his hips, making him seem feminine. Pale skin and black, skimpy clothing made for a stark contrast but seemed to work well together, showing that he had toned abs and ripcord-like muscles on his body and seeming masculine. Last but not least were his eyes, a strange violet color. _Eyes of violet are the eyes of the devil _I mused in looking at them, they were also slitted like a cat's; not that I could talk, my eyes were slitted too.

"Nothing o' man-skirt" I replied with a smirk. His response was to throw me down the alleyway. Landing on my butt, I let out a hiss as I landed awkwardly on my tail. The strange man-skirt man walked over to me and picked me up again. I decided right then and there that this was getting old. I looked him up and down and formed an escape plan. "Hey man-skirt, are you a boy or a girl?" I asked loudly, half wanting him to answer half hoping someone would hear me.

"My name is Envy you worthless piece of shit and I am a man!" he yelled. I guessed he got that a lot when he was trying to kill people. Well, now I know for sure; just then a wicked idea popped into my head and I grinned.

"Thank you!" I said cheerfully as I looked at the confused expression plastered to his face. And with that I kicked him in the nuts, he fell like a sack of bricks and my neck was freed. Wasting no time, I grabbed him by the neck and twisted; not enough to kill him but knock him out for a few minutes. I looked down at myself, I was still naked and a bit scraped up. I needed clothes like, now; carefully I walked over to the unconscious Palm Tree's body, I did need clothes… _a few minutes huh? Challenge accepted._

Two minutes later I was in a black sports bra/ tank top cut off thing, black spandex shorts and a man-skirt. I looked back at the naked form of Envy lying unconscious in the alleyway, I smirked.

"Huh, I guess you really are a boy Palm Tree." And I skipped out of the alleyway.

"A human chimera?" Ed questioned Mustang as they sat back in headquarters. "And he was like, human looking?" he was obviously thinking of Nina. Al was over in a corner listening with a sad look on his face, or at least the saddest a suit of armor could really look.

Mustang pinched the brow of his nose, this day just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Apparently yes, and the he was a she, Fullmetal. It was a girl around 17; she said she had been in there for 9 years."

"Wait a minute; let's back this train ride up. You said it was a girl?" Ed gasped, looking completely disbelieving. "I thought they only used prisoners there! Why was a 17 year old girl in prison?"

"Maybe if you actually listened a little, you would have heard me when I said that" Mustang retorted, a bit annoyed the young alchemist was blowing him off.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL AN ATOM LOOKS HUGE COMPARED TO HIM?" Edward shouted as steam blew out his ears. Mustang started laughing rather loudly at this but suddenly cut off. The sound of another person's voice could be heard laughing from just outside the window. Mustang opened the window and everyone turned as the saw a 17 year old girl hanging upside-down outside the window, laughing her ass off. "Who are you?" Edward asked, obviously looking a little freaked out and mildly annoyed to be laughed at by some random girl.

With a smirk she swung into the room, did a little roll and landed on all fours over in the corner. She had long black messy hair that went down to her mid back and, were those bat wings? They were pulled in tight against her body but still there. A tail with big black scales and 2 feathery detailed spikes swung back and forth dangerously, keeping Ed and Mustang at bay. Her face was contorted into a hiss, showing off sharp and animalistic fangs in her mouth, her emerald eyes flashing a silent warning of _if you make one wrong move; I will kill you before you can blink. _She was rather thin and seemed all muscle (Mustang also notice a lack of curviness to her chest). Ed blinked, was she…?

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU WEARING ENVY'S CLOTHES?" Ed shouted looking completely freaked out. Was this girl in the league with the homunculi? If not, why was she wearing Envy's oh no signature skirt thingy? The girl looked at him with a bemused expression on her face but didn't answer.

Instead she plopped down on the sofa. "You're that bastard from before right? The one that forced me to jump off the roof?" she seemed to ignore Ed; he got very pissed by this and silently cussed her out under his breath. The girl whipped around to look at him; snarling, now she was paying attention to him.

"Excuse me? I don't take kindly to being called those kinds of name, especially not by a boy who clearly was is still not tall enough to ride the rides at an amusement park." She spat back, her emerald eyes glowing. Ed started to back up only to find out that she had backed him into a corner. _Shit, this isn't gonna end well_ he thought. He didn't even have time to explode about the short comment before she lunged at him.

At that moment a snap was heard and she was engulfed in flames.

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**Yay for cliffhangers! i will wait for at least on new reveiw before i release the next chapter**

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 3: Questions

**Hello readers! **

**Thank you for reveiwing! you dont know how much this is an esteem boot to a writer when people say they love their story.**

**I find i funny that 2 of the people that have reviwed i also read their stories. you people are awesome!**

**This one is to answer a few questions and give you a bit more backstory on Fern. **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, just Fern.**

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_"Excuse me? I don't take kindly to being called those kinds of name, especially not by a boy who clearly was is still not tall enough to ride the rides at an amusement park." She spat back, her emerald eyes glowing. Ed started to back up only to find out that she had backed him into a corner. __Shit, this isn't gonna end well__ he thought. He didn't even have time to explode about the short comment before she lunged at him._

_At that moment a snap was heard and she was engulfed in flames._

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Ed looked in bewilderment as the flames faded around the where the girl had been. He expected to see a charred body or a pile of ashes, but there was nothing there. He heard a sigh and looked up in shock; the girl was hanging _on the ceiling_. Everyone in the room gasped as the girl calmly detached itself from the ceiling and looked a little bit annoyed, _no wonder_ Ed thought, _I would be too if someone just tried to turn me into bacon_. But instead of cursing or trying to kill Mustang, whose glove was still outstretched from snapping, she sat down on the nearest couch and let out an exasperated sigh.

"So who's got questions?" she said as she looked around the room "I might as well get them out of the way before I ask any favors." She looked around the room at the now three set of eyes staring at her.

Ed blinked, what was with the mood swing there, hadn't she been just trying to kill him? "Okay I got a few, who are you?" Ed asked. _I already asked her this when she first came in!_ He thought irately.

"My name was Fern when I was a little kid" she said slowly, as if trying to remember.

"What is it now?

"Experiment 666, when I entered lab 5 I got that name, I almost forgot my real name in that place."

"Why did they use you in a chimera project? I thought they only used prisoners for their experiments."

At that Fern's face darkened, she looked a mixture between sad and angry. "My shitty excuse for a father put me in there. He worked there and let them use me as one of their chimera experiments, and then he left me there after he quit working there."

"Oh", that was all Ed could say, looking down at the now very interesting floor. He was thinking of Nina; _was this what would have happened to her?_ He asked himself miserably. There was a loud silence in the room as no one really wanted to talk, even mustang kept his egotistical mouth shut for once.

"Um, why are you wearing Envy's clothes?" Al asked quietly, the suit of armor had been sulking in the corner before Mustang tried to make the girl a human candle.

"Oh! The bastard attacked me after I had escaped and I had needed clothes, so I took his." The girl replied matter-of-factly. To this Edward burst out laughing.

"You mean you beat that Palm Tree bastard? How?" Ed asked, looking genuinely curious.

"Well… I kinda kicked him in the nuts and then knocked him out; it wasn't like this big fight scene with epic music or anything like that." Fern admitted, looking a little sheepish.

"…You kicked a Homunculus in the nut and stole his clothes?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"I have a question, what kind of chimera are you? What animal did they cross you with?" Mustang asked from his desk, his hand still gloved and ready in case she attacked again.

"They didn't" she stated simply "see they decided to try out a new method of making chimeras, using me. They made an animal chimera first, it was called a dragon, and then they combined me with it to make the monster you see today. Other stuff like the ears and eyes were fluff they added later with other transmutations."

"Is that even possibly?" Al asked, his armored and hollow voice echoing with disbelief.

"Apparently so"

"What was it like in the Laboratory?" Ed asked

***Flashback***

_ "Get back in your cage!" a small girl of about 10 was slammed against the back wall of her cage, sobbing and touching the tail now on her body. The scientist that had brought her in this new room was grumbling and running his hand along the other cages in the room; the creatures inside shrunk back as he approached each of their cages. Some hissed and others whimpered as he walked along the rows of chimera-humans. He finally stopped in front of a young girls cage; she was about 13, with large fox ears and a poufy fox tail in her naked body. Her screams rang in Fern's mind as the girl was dragged out of the room, she never came back._

_ Fern looked down at her own body; they had done the transmutation to her today. She remembered being led to the middle of the circle being bound and thrown in the middle of the transmutation circle, a strange and deadly chimera chained only a few feet away._

"_We are now ready to begin the transmutation" some scientist announced as two others moved to the edge of the circle activating it. The circle began to glow a strange purple color as she and the beast were merged._

_ The pain was excruciating as the strange chimeras and my body became one. I was hit over and over again with waves of pain until I retreated into the recesses of my mind to hide from the pain. Unfortunately I forgot that the animal's and my body were the same and apparently it had the same idea as me it seemed to look at me with its sad eyes and lunged forward. I understood completely, only one of us could survive this transmutation. The thing, as I found out later was called a dragon tried to slash me with its long claws and I had to quickly dodge the surprisingly fast beast. I had no idea how I was going to kill this thing but then I had an idea; when the beast charge again I jumped in the air and landed on its scaly back. Finding a vulnerable spot, I sunk my little teeth into the monster and mange to hit a vein. _

_ I didn't kill the monster with that blow but it was going to die of blood loss with any hope before I could kill me. The beast staggered as its neck gushed a warm river of blood, as it fell I walked over to it while it was heaving its last breaths. "I am sorry; you should have never had this happen to you" I whispered to it as its eyes glazed over. I was genuinely sad too; this monster had probably been a mix of animal that had been living their lives before being pulled into this sick experiment. The monster faded as my mind fell into blackness. _

_I woke up some time after in my small cage. I looked down at myself and cried. I had become the monster I had killed._

***End of flashback*(Fern POV)**

"Wow…" Ed murmured as I finished telling my story to them. We all had migrated to the couch as I had told them about Lab 5. I looked over at Ed; his fists were clenched as he stared determinedly at the ground.

"Well this bring me to what I came here about, I would like to ask if any of you know a place I can stay, I am happy to sleep out on the roof but there are going to be thunderstorms tonight" I said as I looked outside and then back at Ed and Al, my green eyes pleading.

"Fine, you can stay with us back at our hotel" Ed said with an exasperated sigh. "But here-"he draped his red coat over me. "You're gonna attract attention to yourself in you walk into a hotel with wings and a tail" he said with a smirk.

We left the central headquarters as the sky opened up. I smiled as drops of rain hit my dirty face. The feeling of rain was a welcome experience on my face after 9 years of dark and tears. I ran after Ed and Al as we walked to the hotel.

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**Awww... does anyone else want to give Fern a hug now?**

**Oh, heads up. i have school this week (last week of school, WHOOT!) so i will only be able to update once or twice.**

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 4: Cooking bacon, the manly way!

**Hello all readers! Chapter 4 is now open to the public!**

**sorry it took so long but it was the last week of school and so my techers assigned a huge assignment due today.**

**and on that note: YES! I NOW HAVE NO MORE SCHOOL AND CAN DEVOTE MORE TIME TO FANFICTION!**

**Fern: and the addiction spreads... **

**hush, you are my creation**

**Fern: that just means i'm just as stubborn**

**Folks, Chapter 4!**

**(forgot to mention this earlier, but this is based after Lab 5 exploded in FMAB but before they go to Rush Valley)**

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"_Fine, you can stay with us back at our hotel" Ed said with an exasperated sigh. "But here-"he draped his red coat over me. "You're gonna attract attention to yourself in you walk into a hotel with wings and a tail" he said with a smirk._

_ We left the central headquarters as the sky opened up. I smiled as drops of rain hit my dirty face. The feeling of rain was a welcome experience on my face after 9 years of dark and tears. I ran after Ed and Al as we walked to the hotel._

* * *

"Holy Crap!" I yelled as we entered their hotel room, which was more like its own little house! "It's so big and spacious!" I said happily as I threw myself onto the couch, murmuring words of comfyness that I'm sure came out as "swedlifinkign". Ed and Al laughed as I sat up on the couch, half of my face covered by hair; I blew it away a bit annoyed. The room was indeed big, had a huge living room area with a couch and a small coffee table. Over in the corner was a small kitchenette with white tile and a big fridge. Branching out from the living room were 3 doors, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. I concluded this place was heaven as I opened the fridge to a load of bacon and other goodies (there was no milk I noted).i plopped myself down on the couch and made myself comfy.

"Umm, there is an extra bedroom if you want to use it" Ed said, looking at me as if I was weird for sleeping on the couch.

"No, if I do then were will Alphonse going to sleep?" I pointed out. "I'm fine on the couch, it's really poofy." Ed and Al exchanged glances and Ed shrugged his shoulders. Happy I had won the argument; I curled upon the couch and let exhaustions wash over me like a tidal wave.

****

"_Daddy daddy! Look what I found!" a little girl called as she ran over to a tall figure, a small dead bird in her hands. "Can you fix it daddy? Why is it broken?" she asked curiously._

"_It's dead sweetie, it's something daddy can't fix. Even daddy can't bring back the dead" Dr. Knox told her as he knelt down beside her. "But don't worry, daddy will dig it a grave for it"_

"_But daddy can fix anything right? Even broken bones and colds!" the little girl pointed out, as if that made bringing back the dead perfectly possible._

"_Fern listen to me; you must never try to bring back the dead Fern, not by any means; and make sure no one else does too. The dead can't be brought back to life Fern, remember that." The doctor said with a haunted look in his eyes, the girl took no mind to it as she pouted her cheeks._

"_Daddy….. You know I can't do alchemy! And I read in one of your book about humane tranfiguration? Or something likes that. It was all about combining humans and ani-"_

"_It is human transmutation and you are too young to be reading that, plus what were you doing in my study?" he looked down, glaring at the girl. His rage rolled off of him and hit the girl like electric shocks._

"_I just…it was really messy in there and, I just wanted to help daddy" her eyes looked down at the ground._

"_Get inside the house and go to your room. I never want you in my study again." _

_ Fern trudged back towards the house. All she had wanted to do was help daddy by cleaning up his messy study. While she was cleanly up he had a book strewn across his desk; curious, she picked it up and began reading. It was all really complex readings but one page did stick with her, a page about combing humans with live animals to get some strange hybrid; human chimeras, they were called were the by-product and were greatly praised on this page as being a great scientific breakthrough. Fern really couldn't see why anyone would want a weird person like that. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and she quickly ran out of the room and into the nearest one, which happed to be daddy's bedroom._

"_Fern? What are you doing kiddo?"Dr. Knox called as he walked up the stairs._

"_I AM NOT A KID! I AM ALMOST 8 AND A LADY!" Fern screamed as she jumped out of his room fuming. chuckled, calling her a kid always pissed her off. Ever since she was little in the orphanage the kids their had treated her like an adult because she was the oldest. So when she lived with she was not used to being treated like a kid, she did not like it one bit. _

_Time skip to morning after the fight with daddy!_

_ Fern walked down for breakfast that morning still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes but quite excited. Tomorrow she was turning 8 and then she could use it in an argument that she could go to work with daddy! Daddy sat at the table with the morning paper and a cup of black coffee; Fern smiled, she loved the smell of daddy's coffee._

"_So Fern, I have decided tomorrow you going to come work with me"_

_Then her daddy's face swirled in her memories as her was calling to her._

"_Fern!"_

"_Fern!"_

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"Fern!" Ed yelled as he was trying to shake me out of my sleep. I blinked and looked around_, where am I?_ I thought. Then I remembered I was in Ed an Al's hotel in central; _I'm not in a cage, there are no more military people doing painful experiments to me_ I thought to myself as I trotted towards the delicious smell of bacon leaving a screaming Ed behind me, something about not ignoring him.

"Hi there Fern" Al said as he was frying bacon in the small little kitchenette. I couldn't help it, I laughed. There was just something damm funny about seeing a huge scary suit of armor in a flowery apron frying up a mountain of bacon. I could help wondering if he was a bit gender confused there.

Ed came barreling into the room ranting something about me not paying attention to him. I grinned, I decided to piss him off and watch the fireworks.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you from down there, pipsqueak. Could you please repeat that? Once more with feeling please." I said smirking. And ooh dam I was right! The little Shorty lit up like the forth July with several rants of "who are you calling so small they could ride an ant" followed with a grand finale of him throwing a pitcher of orange juice at her and having it crash against the stove. The smell of burnt citrus filled my nose.

"Brother! Look what you did to the stove! Now how are you going to have bacon?" AL cried. I desperately tried to suppress my laughter as Al sounded like a scolding mother.

"Guys, chill the fuck out. I got this." I said as I grabbed the pan from Al and flipped it up in the air. As it passed over my head I shot a stream of flames out and managed to mostly hit the pan, some fire did get on the ceiling though, leaving huge burn marks. I caught the now sizzling pan filled with crispy bacon as I turn back to Ed and Al. "And that gentlemen, is how you cook bacon like a man" I said as I spooned bacon onto 3 plates and looked around. "want to see what I can do with eggs?

"But how….." Ed said, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. I gave off a telltale smirk as I looked at the two dumbfounded boys; well ok, Al didn't really look dumbfounded but still for the win!

"Dragon chimera, remember? Or did the wing and tail thing slip your mind, 'cause I thought the slitted eyes and little horns would remind you if forgotten it you had." I said while looking at them with a _dare you to fucking say something_ expression. Ed cleared his throat, _brave boy_ I thought.

"Yeah we remembered that but fire? You breathe fire?" he asked incredulously. Psch, I bet he's just jealous that I'm more awesome than he will ever be.

"it was one of the sicko addition they did their, courtesy of Mad Scientist inc." I said rolling my eyes. "It's no big deal, I rarely do it but I thought I would show off for you guys"

"No big deal? You just spit flames out of your mouth!" Ed shouted, honestly I was wondering if the entire hotel could hear us by now; to a escaped freak of nature this was quite concerning.

"For the love of god will you shut up! And why do you even care what they did to me? Why did you even give a dam about a misfit chimera like me? You tell me that _Fullmetal alchemist!_" I yelled, hissing the last part of his disgusting military alias, it didn't even suit him.

To that the boy fell silent. He had this sad look on his face and so did Al, suddenly they found the floor very interesting.

"well it a long story….." Ed said quietly, refusing to make eye contact.

I looked outside in the pouring rain. "we got time, do tell."

* * *

**Cliffhanger! and 1,594 words! i am so proud!**

**Fern: and after all this waiting, we expected it to be longer**

**shut up dragon girl**

**Fern: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! seriouly, this kids self esteem hangs in the balence here.**

**HEY! shut up!**

**Oh! as you might have guessed by my username, my favorite character is Envy, so he will appear more often in later chapter. please submit reveiws with what pairings you would like to see and i will do my bestto incorporate them in. NO ELRICEST!**


	6. Chapter 5: Things explained & shoping

**Please dont kill me!**

**(crowd of angry readers boos) **

**ha ha just kidding, i know only like 3 people read this.**

**Anywho... to explain where i have been: for the past 4 week i have been in a remote cabin up in maine that had no wifi. so the story shall continue now that i am back. i will not abandon a story.**

**and to the people who actually commented back on my last chappy (thank you OceanDream and NewfieSandy!) this will be an OC and (my envy fangirl-ness being suppressed) Ed pairing. **

**I really want to make this a great story like the Lightning strike series by Kaylpso (if you havent read them, you should check them out, their AWESOME!) so review me some tips!**

**Fern: Cool story bro, need more dragons and shi-... oh wait.**

**Ha ha**

* * *

_"For the love of god will you shut up! And why do you even care what they did to me? Why did you even give a dam about a misfit chimera like me? You tell me that __Fullmetal alchemist!__" I yelled, hissing the last part of his disgusting military alias, it didn't even suit him._

_To that the boy fell silent. He had this sad look on his face and so did Al, suddenly they found the floor very interesting._

_"Well it a long story….." Ed said quietly, refusing to make eye contact._

_I looked outside in the pouring rain. "We got time, do tell."_

We sat in silence as Ed finished up the story of their life, from them losing their bodies to Nina, that cute little kid that was made into a chimera. I kinda understood now why Ed was so eager to help; but still, I was a chimera and could take care of myself, so I felt a little annoyed at the thought of being babied by a tin can and a pipsqueak.

"So…" Ed began, shattering the awkward silence that hung in the room like a blanket. "What happens now?" he looked expectantly at me, as if I knew. This matter is up to him and his brother to decide and I wanted no part in that.

"That's up for you and your brother, personally I'm fine on my own but I have a feeling you won't let me do that will you? I said with a bored expression on my face, I was eyeing Alphonse's still bacon laden plate with hunger. I guess he noticed because he pushed the plate towards me with a mutter of "not hungry". After that Ed and Al excused themselves from the room, no doubt to talk; I smiled, I could still hear them through the door. Grinning, I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth and listened.

"Please brother? We have to take her with us! She won't survive on her own." I heard Alphonse pleading to Ed; it was still hard to imagine a little boy's voice coming from that armor.

"No! She would no doubt cause trouble and how the hell are we supposed to hide the fact that she's a chimera and a flamboyant one at that?" Ed was whispering too Al. Flamboyant? I was no-…. Well okay maybe a little but still!

"She has nowhere else to go and I don't think the military would mind too much you bringing her along, you take me with you." Al said, trying to reason with his brother.

"You're my brother and do you really think Mustang will let her come along after how she humiliated him at the chimera bust?" Ed said, practically yelling now.

I sighed, this was getting nowhere. I sat there munching on my bacon as the brothers continued arguing. I really couldn't give a dam about the outcome of this argument but I could say it would be nice to travel with normal people for awhile. Finally I had just about enough of Ed yelling only one room over so I yelled really loudly "you guys know it's not really a private conversation if the entire block can hear you right?" There was silence. I heard Ed groan and mutter something followed by Alphonse cheering, I was gonna hazard a guess that I would be going with them. Ed came out of the room and looked at me, still sitting there in Envy's clothes.

"You can come with us but first, we have to get you some clothes" Ed said, looking me up and down.

"What's wrong with these?" I asked, they fit well enough, and the let my wings out so I could fly.

"People would stare if you went out in public like that, here" Ed said as he wrapped his cape/cloak thingy around me. It did do a good job of hiding my wings and tail, but there was still the issue with the ears and my little horns. Oh well, they would just have to deal with that. I'll have to admit, I looked strange.

We walked to a clothing shop in the middle of central into a men's clothing store. I almost laughed, Ed had forgotten I was I girl and just walked to the guys clothing.

"Um madam?" a clerk behind the counter said in a quite snooty voice. "I'm afraid you can't shop here dressed like that". I looked down at myself.

"Hey Ed why can't I shop here?" I asked as I walked over to him "the man behind the counter says I can't dressed like this. Honestly I was really confused, how could I get new clothes if the ones I was wearing prevented me from going in to get new clothes?

"He's probably talking about the "no shoes no shirt no service" rule. It's really annoying" Ed explained as he walked over to the counter man. "Excuse me sir, I understand you won't let my friend here purchase clothes"

The counter man huffed, "she is clearly breaking the no shoes no shir-"

"Yeah, yeah no service blah blah blah." Ed finished looking annoyed. He flashed his pocket watch at the man, I'm pretty sure he blinded the poor man with that watch. "Does this change anything?" Ed said, smirking.

"A state alchemist?" the man exclaimed. I raised my eyebrows, so this changed things? "Of course sir, feel free to look around" the man said, looking a little flustered.

Most of the stuff in the store was suits and ties (I wondered if I would like in a tuxedo...) nevertheless; I picked out a pair of cargo pants that hid my tail nicely (Ohh… cargo-ey goodness! So many pockets!) Shirts were a bit more difficult seeming as how they really didn't have much of a selection. I eventually just got a black tank top that let my wings out. Hmm... I still needed a jacket or something to cover my wings. I found a leather jacket and a fedora in the back of the store. I grinned as I looked in the mirror; I looked like a fucking badass.

"Ready to go?" Al said, coming up behind me. I let out a squeak of surprise as he had snuck up on me. I nodded quickly. We purchased our clothing (apparently Ed had needed more black tank tops as well) and left the store. We stopped in a little café for lunch.

"So what's the plan after this?" I asked Ed and Al as I sipped my first ever "Pina Colada" they looked at each other and groaned.

"we made a promise to a friend so we have to go somewhere with her." Ed said.

"so where are we headed?"

"To Rush Valley!"

* * *

**Huzzah! off to rush valley *runs for door***

**Fern: get back here, you shlacked off your responsiblilties for 4 weeks you don't get a break**

**Dammit!**

**Fern: REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 6: Tales from Rush Valley Part

**So getting back into the regular groove of things here is the next chapter! i made it longer for you guys to try and apalogize for the 4 week AWOL i went on you guys.**

**Fern: nothing can make up for that. **

**Shut up, your going to start falling for Ed now by vote of fan reveiws **

**Fern: WHAT!**

**Rush valley is going to be split into two parts because i don't wanna just skim over some of the parts. (like they did in the last harry potter)**

**it has also just occured to me i have not done the the disclaimer in a while. Fern?**

**Fern: *sigh* EVNYLOVER DOES NOT AND WILL NEVER OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST DESPITE HER HOPES OF IT!**

**Ouch. you are mad i havn't written you in awhile**

**Fern: ****Shut up and get working on the next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"_we made a promise to a friend so we have to go somewhere with her." Ed said._

"_so where are we headed?"_

"_To Rush Valley!"_

"Wee! Look at this place! The sun, friendly people, the **automail**! It's a dream come true" Winry squealed as we entered Rush Valley. She made a point of entering all the shops to drool and squeal and beg for all the auto mail (they all looked the same to me but I didn't dare admit it, I've seen what she can do with that wrench.)

It was true; a lot of the shops along the main street were automail shops. Oh who am I kidding, they were ALL automail shops! Where did these people buy food? I'm pretty sure that Al, Winry and I were the only ones in this town that didn't have automail. Winry made a few more purchases and Ed complained a bit more about how expensive Winry was. And we continued to walk down Main Street.

I saw Ed and Al go over to a large crowd of people who seemed to be cheering and waving money. A sleazy salesman and a big brute of a man were at the center, the salesman was yelling into the crowd.

"Step right up ladies and gentleman to try your luck at automail arm wrestling! Only 100 cenz and if you win, you get the pot! Can you beat our reigning champion; THE DESTROYER?" he was blaring into the crowd.

A fairly well built man stepped up to the table and threw down 100 cenz. "Sure I'll try! I just got this arm today and I've been dying to try it out!" the man and the "destroyer" locked arms.

"Ready? Go!" the salesman yelled. It wasn't even a contest; the brute snapped the man arm and proceeded to shatter into a million pieces. "Sorry, did you say that arm was brand new?" the brute grumbled as he smirked at the man. We all watched as the pack of automail engineers carried the poor man off.

_Like hyenas, _I mused as the man went out of site. I walked up to Edward and whispered in his ear "I smell a scam" I sang as the sleazy salesman scanned the crowd.

"How about you sir? You look big and strong!" the sales man yelled as he pointed at Al. thankfully, Al shook his head profusely to say no. "And you young man!" he said pointing to Edward. "Oh sorry what am I thinking? A puny runt like you would get crushed in a fight like this."

_Oh shit… now you've done it you idiot. _I sighed, as I waited for the fireworks to go off. Ed slammed 100 cenz down on the table with a dark aura hovering around them, I quirked my eyebrows in amusement to their reactions.

"Huh? This little boy is serious?" the salesmen said.

"Ed you can't be serious, you will kill my precious automail" Winry yelled at him.

"Brother!" Al yelled.

"Ha! How's he gonna win with that piece of crap automail anyway?" I heard someone in the crowd yell. I watched as flames appeared in Winry's eyes.

"Never mind Ed, kick their asses!" Winry screamed. It took all I had not to laugh at the murder on Winry's face after that comment

I was the only one to notice Ed clapping his hand underneath the table. _Well okay then, if you can't beat them; break their arms! _

"Ready? Set? Go!" the salesman yelled. In a matter of seconds the Destroyer's automail fell apart at the seams.

"Sorry, looks like the scrap collector's going to be real busy today huh?" Ed said, the dark aura around him fading but a huge "I just kicked you ass" grin still plastered to his face. at this id did laugh my ass off at the big man crying as he was carried away by a pack of engineers. I turned back to see Ed being drowned in a wave of curious auto mail fanatics.

"Wow I've never seen automail like that around here"

"Such a unique design!'

"And clearly sturdy!"

"Who is you engineer?"

Winry seemed to be getting just as much attention as Ed as they talked about his automail and other stuff in ye language of gear-heads. When it was all said and done Ed was left in the middle of main street in nothing but his underwear. I will admit, Ed had a fantastic body, such toned abbs…

_Oh Shit! _I quickly turned around. Must. Hide. Blushing! I waited until Ed was dressed and I had got my blush under control before turning back around to see Ed with a "oh crap" expression on his face.

"What's wrong? Winry and me asked at the same time. Ha, Jinx!

"My watch… "Ed trailed off. "My watch that proves I'm a state alchemist is gone!"

Well, we were fucked now.

"Sounds like you're a victim of Paninya" one of the shop keepers said.

"And that would be who?" I asked. I was gonna go out on a limb and say she was not an honest hardworking citizen of Rush Valley.

"She's the town thief that preys on stupid tourists" another shopkeeper joined in. "she sells her loot at a pawn shop on the other side of town".

"can you give us directions?" Al asked hopefully.

"well sure but first… let us see that wonderful automail of yours again" the shop keeper said with sparkles in their eyes. _Creepy…._

One automail blade to the face later and we were headed on our way to the pawn shop. Ed and Winry were taking forever though.

We got to the pawn shop (finally) and did find Paninya there. Ed burst in the door with a yell of "**don't open it! And don't wind it either!**" which could only be assumed with they were trying to open the watch. I had to laugh as Ed got a pot chucked at his head and spazzed out trying to catch it. I saw the Paninya girl hop onto the roof and decided to help out.

I ran after the girl happily _finally someone who knows how to run! _I did a flip and soared past the girls head with a "hi there!" the look on her face was priceless; unfortunately I lost my hat in the process.

I heard Ed yell a "come back here you thief!" as he ran after us.

I came up alongside the girl in a casual run and waved. "Hi! Are you Paninya?"

"Yep! Who are you?" she said. Wow the girl didn't even sound out of breath!

"Oh I'm with the Fullmetal pipsqueak back there, whom you seem to have stolen a pocket watch from"

"So you're gonna fight me for it?" she challenged.

"If I have to. Oh hey and by the way, the roofline ends here" as I slid to a stop.

I watched as Paninya skidded to a halt to avoid going off the roof. At this point, Ed had finally caught up with us. He was breathing heavy and had murder in his eyes.

"THANKS FOR WAITING FOR ME!" he yelled at me. "AND YOU!" pointing to Paninya. He clapped his hand and slammed them down on the roof. Dozens of hands sprung up from the concrete and headed towards the nimble thief.

"Cool trick, what are you?" she asked.

"I'm an alchemist!" Ed said as more hands sprung up behind him. You could practically see his ego swell.

Paninya laughed as she did a back flip to land… right on Ed's face. "I've never played tag with an alchemist before!"

Over in the distance I saw Al waving to me. I ran along one of the arms Ed had made and leapt to the roof of another building.

"what's up?"

"Brother and I have a trap set up for the girl over here" Al explained.

"Do you really think Ed can get her all the way over here?" Winry asked.

"If anyone can do it, it would be my big brother" Al said confidently.

She sure was coordinated. Ed kept disassembling rooftops to throw things at this girl. One roof top he clapped his hand and threw them down on the roof. Al, Winry and I sweat dropped as nothing happened. They were close enough now that I could hear their conversation.

"Huh, nothing happening; what's the matter? Run out of ideas? Too tired?" Paninya questioned as Ed got his breath back.

"Alchemy is not only making things appear out of nowhere. For instance..." Ed explained. The ground began to crack under the girl's feet. "I can transmute the ground under your feet into a weaker substance!" The roof of the shop caved in on the girl. Ed used some of the roof to make a cage and threw it down into the building… and successfully caught a shop keeper. Way to go Ed.

"Showtime" Al murmured as Paninya hopped out of the rubble that a few seconds ago had been a pleasant shop. "I've been waiting for you" Al said as he activated the transmutation circle he had oh so perfectly sketched in the ground. I had to wonder how they got so perfect every time. The transmutation circle activated and a large birdcage formed around the girl.

"Way to go Al!" Ed yelled as he jogged up.

"Hmm…" Paninya conked on the bars of the cage as Ed was approaching "I would step back if I were you" she warned as she raised her leg to the bars; and proceeded to have a knife fly out of her leg.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ed and I screamed at the same time.

"What are you staring at? This is Rush Valley after all" Paninya replied with a smirk. "By the way my other leg has a 1.18 in carbine in it" she said as she shot freaking CANON from her leg!

By this point the girl had already blasted her way free of the cage and made it on my list of badass people I now knew. She began to run again but by this point Ed was too tired to give chase and I had already had it explained to me that I really couldn't help out when civilians were watching. Something about shooting flames not being normal? To all of our surprises it was Winry who grabbed the young thief's arm and held her fast.

"Good job Winry! Don't let her get away!"Ed called as we ran over.

"Why would I? I'm not letting her get away… NOT WITHOUT TAKING A LOOK AT THAT GEOURGEOUS AUTOMAIL!" Winry exclaimed.

Ed fell flat where he was as me and Al face-palmed.

* * *

**Wow Winry... just wow.**

**Fern: why are you here? get working on the next chappy!**

**sheesh fine! guess what? over 2,000 word written in this chappy!**

**Fern: READ AND REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 7: Tales of Rush Valley part 2

**hello everyone1 i'm back!**

**Fern:ABOUT DAMM TIME1 WHERE IN THE HELL WERE YOU!**

**eh heh heh... okay so i would like to apologize to all the readers of this story. i have been really lazy about updating this story and i know at least 2 of you are always there and reveiw on every chapter. i am sorry i have been all over the place with these updates due to it being summer. i have been caught up in the craze of summer fun and procrastinated on this story. now i will never abandon a story and i hold to that. i do promise to try and update every week.**

**thats all. enjoy the chappy!**

* * *

"_Why would I? I'm not letting her get away… NOT WITHOUT TAKING A LOOK AT THAT GEOURGEOUS AUTOMAIL!" Winry exclaimed._

_Ed fell flat where he was as me and Al face-palmed._

* * *

"Wow! That's just amazing!" Winry was nearly swooning at the girl's legs. "I've never seen automail like that before!"

The girl's legs were pretty cool, but somehow Ed, Al and I couldn't bring ourselves to the amount of enthusiasm Winry showed. As Winry rambled on and on about the legs I swear it was like she was talking in a different language. Even Paninya was just staring blankly as Winry rambled on about the suspension or something like that. _What happened to this girl that she needs a large knife and a canon imbedded in her legs? _I had to wonder; how rough a town was Rush Valley?

"You have to take me to your engineer!" Winry was begging at Paninya's feet. It was kinda funny to see a girl who could clobber you with a wrench begging a thief for help. Paninya seemed to think about it for a minute and then agreed.

"Wait a minute! We are turning her into the MP's for thievery and assault of a state alchemist! Ed protested

"It was I little harmless pick pocketing! That's nothing to call up the military about" Winry argued

"It does kinda make you seem like a winey brat" I commented.

"Shut up! It's not even your decision to make!" Ed yelled

"I can't believe you would be so small-hearted!"

"Don't call me small!"Ed fumed "that woman's a menace to this town!"

At that moment the poor shopkeeper that's roof we had destroyed came over. "Aren't you the one that damaged my shop?" I saw Ed ego and argument fly out the window. Soon other shopkeeper came over too, voicing their damages.

"You ruined the roof of my shop"

"You destroyed my chimney"

"And you terrorized my poor Mr. Snuggles!"A woman yelled. Oh I felt so sorry for that dog.

We sat there while Ed repaired the town he had oh–so terrorized. Al and I made small talked while Winry and Paninya planned their trip into the mountains to see her mechanic. By the time Ed came back the girls seemed to already be close friends.

"That changes nothing! I'm gonna turn her over to the MP's and I'm gonna get my watch back!' Ed raged, slightly out of breath.

"Dude, let it go. You just sound like a five year old that lost a toy" I flatly told him. Honestly I didn't know I would travel with them if he was always this loud.

"It's no use big brother, you know there is no stopping her when she gets like this" Al said with a sigh.

About an hour later we were hiking through the mountains near Rush Valley I watched in amusement as Ed and Winry struggled along. Ed was complaining about the heat. Heat had never really bothered me, even as a human. It was nice in the Rush Mountains, warm with earth baked mountains looming all around them. Paninya seemed just fine too. Then again, she lived here; and frankly Al didn't count, he couldn't feel anything. The only 2 things I was really annoyed over were that this was the perfect time to stretch my wings and I couldn't because Winry and Paninya would not react well to that. The second thing was all the complaining.

"Wow, you weren't kidding. Your engineer really does live out in the middle of nowhere" Winry wheezed.

"I blame you for us having to come out here Winry" Ed moaned "it's too damm hot."

"I think it's nice out here, I don't know why you two are complaining" I said cheerily. This got me a death glare from Ed and a big grin from Paninya as she strode ahead of the group.

"Don't worry you little wimps, we're almost there" Paninya called back

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL! I WILL BREAK OFF YOUR LEGS AND STICK THEM ON YOUR HEAD!" Ed yelled as he suddenly chased after Paninya with newfound strength. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Brother that's not what she said! Would you calm down?" Al sighed, exasperated.

Finally we got there. I admit, it was a really cute adobe house built off the bottom of a cliff. There was a little well outside of it and a line that a man was hanging clothes from. Inside a furnace was going, I could smell the smoke.

"Howdy there!" Paninya called as she ran over to the man.

"Paninya! I still don't know how you manage to come here so often from town." The man called as we came over. He had short dark hair wrapped in a bandana and round glasses

Suddenly a woman appeared in the window of the house. "Hello Paninya, did you bring some friends today?" She had short light hair with a warm smile. As we came to the door it was easy to tell she was heavily pregnant.

"Uh-huh! I brought some guests to meet Dominique!" she said with a grin

"Well don't you come inside? You're just in time for tea." She said with another smile.

"Yaaaay!" as Paninya ran inside. I raised my eyebrows, that tea must be really good.

"That's Dominique? He doesn't seem all that unfriendly to me…" Winry whispered to Paninya.

"What no, that Ridel. He's Dominique's son and his wife is Satera." Paninya explained. She pointed into the next room. there was a old man in there hammering away at a flat sheet a steel that was red hot, the man's face seemed to be twisted into a permeate scowl. This dude was definitely not the life at parties.

"Hiya Dominique!" Paninya called as she peered in through the doorway

"What are you doing back here?" he said grouchily.

"What are ya talking about? I still got payments on these legs"

"I told you I don't want your money, get lost"

"Friendly as ever I see!" Paninya said with a chuckle.

"Paninya brought some guests, come join us for tea." Satera called as she got out more mugs.

"**Internal auto-mail carbines are the culmination of my lifelong dream**." Dominique said with a straight face. _Okay wow, even when he's being dead serious his voice is still grouchy_ I thought.

From there Winry and him hit it off and started talking automail. It was kinda no, really confusing to listen to them talk so I went over to Paninya.

"So…. Why does a girl like you need a knife and a small canon in her automail?" I asked randomly. She looked down at the ground and a sad look came across her face.

"Well, it's kinda a long story…" she trailed off.

I looked around; Winry and Dominique were discussing the oil pressures of the main valve thingamajigger, Ed and Al were over feeling Satera's pregnant belly. "We got time." I said.

"Well, when I was little, before I got automail I would just crawl around in the alleyways of Rush Valley. Now as you might think they were not the safest places to be like in any city. On several times I was robbed, gotten things thrown at me by drunk people, or just beaten because I was there. When Dominique found me I was being beaten by a bunch of drunken thugs. As you can tell that man is quite scary and the thugs ran off. After that Dominique scooped me up and took me back to his place and fitted me with automail. Rehabilitation was horrible and the automail itself was really painful, but I was finally able to walk again. About a year later though I was walking through the city and some men attacked me. They stole automail and sold I to the scrap collectors. Both my legs were stolen again and I was badly beaten. I managed to crawl to a shop and from there call Dominique. Afterward he decided to give me special automail that I could fight back from when I got in trouble. I have been in a few jams over the years but these legs have gotten me through the worst of it." She sighed looking off into the distance.

I was truly shocked that such a horrible thing had happened to a girl like that and she was here today like nothing had happened. She was one tough cookie and seemed to be doing just fine.

We returned to the rest of the group as Dominique was examining Ed's automail. While… Ed was.. Shirtless. And in nothing but his boxers.

I quickly turned around to suppress a nosebleed and the blush that was crawling along my cheeks. Paninya raised her eyebrows as she looked back at me but said nothing.

"Okay, I've decided!" Winry said. "DOMINIQUE! PLEASE MAKE ME YOUR APRENTICE!"

"**Yeah right, go home kid**." Dominique said flatly.

"Can't you at least take some time to think it over?" Winry asked looking defeated.

"No way, I don't take apprentices" he said, cleaning his ear.

"Okay then forget about that, how about whipping up some of that light automail that will make me grow taller?" Ed asked slyly, holding up a box of candies.

"Ed did you get those from the kitchen?!" I exclaimed.

"Go home bean sprout" Dominique deadpanned.

"BEAN…!?"

"Pretty please Dominique?"

"I don't need an apprentice"

"Please don't say that"

"Go home"

"BEAN SPROUT? HE CALLED ME A BEAN SPROUT!" Ed bellowed

"Ed shut up!"Winry yelled.

"And put some pants on" Al added.  
I was getting tired of hearing the fight so I went outside to the door. To my surprise, I found it was pouring outside. Just then I saw I flash and a lightning bolt pierced the black sky.  
"This rain is not letting up, you guys are welcome to stay here" Ridel offered.

Back inside Paninya was telling the rest of them about her life story. Having already heard it, I wandered off to the forge to watch Dominique.

"**What the hell do you want?**" he said as he pounded away at a now curved piece of metal. Man this guy needed to lighten up.

"Just wondering if I could help. Or watch."I said nonchalantly. Honestly he was not the most friendly man but I was bored.

"No way. I already said I don't need an apprentice and I don't need some idiot messing up my automail." He growled.

"What? No I don't want to help with the actual automail. It's raining pretty hard outside so I wondered if you wanted help keeping the furnace going." I said, holding my hands up in a "don't shoot" motion.

After a while of silence he sighed. "Just don't get in the way…"

I hopped my way over to the furnace and began to use the pusher fan thing to heat the furnace; and , on the occasion Dominique wasn't watching I would breathe fire onto it. We sat in silence for a long time, with only the roar of the fire and the clanging of metal being the only sounds. Once I was sure Dominique wasn't watching, I shifted my wings a little under my shirt and breathed more flames into the furnace. As I continued to pump the furnace I noticed there wasn't the sound of metal clanging anymore. I turned around to see Dominique staring at me looking in a mix between awe, confusion and horror. I shifted uncomfortably, and continued to pump the fire, knowing that I was screwed.

"Ridel come quick! It's your wife!" Dominique and I both heard Winry call and came rushing into the room with Ed and Al.

"What's going on!" we all said in unison as we burst through the door.

"The baby's coming" Satera said in a shaky breath.

Cue the mass hysteria.

"The baby's coming!"

"My baby, my baby is coming!"

"What do we do?"

"My grand-baby's coming!"

"Will everyone please calm down?" Satera sighed.

Dominique got his coat and the donkey out of the stable. "It's far too dangerous to take you to the hospital in this kind of weather, I'll go into town and fetch a doctor" he called as he raced off.

"Be careful dad!" Ridel called after him. And we all turned our attention back to Satera and the incoming baby.

"Just hang in there honey, dad will be back soon with the doctor." Ridel said, more to himself than Satera.

"Say that all you want but this baby is going to be born when it wants" Satera huffed.

"Well at least things can't get any-" Winry started. She was interrupted by Dominique coming in panting.

"The bridge…" he wheezed.

"Out of curiosity Winry, were you going to say worse?" I growled.

We all ran out to the bridge the support beams on our side had been split apart, the bridge hanging in the river.

"What do we do now?" Winry asked.

"What else can I do? **I'll do my best**!" Ed shouted above the storm as he clapped his hands.

The ground of the chasm began to form into a long platform. Ed was trying to rebuild the bridge! About halfway across the bridge snapped off and fell into the river.

"What's going on? Why did he quit halfway through? Ridel asked Al.

"He was trying to move a considerable amount of mass without any real support underneath of it, so the bridge crumbled." Al explained.

"I know an old mountain pass to the town, it will take a lot longer but at this point we have no time to be picky, I'll be back as soon as possible" Dominique yelled. With that he charged off on the donkey.

"Ed, I going with him" I yelled as he stood there in an aurora of angst. Frankly I didn't feel like dealing with that right now so I took off after Dominique.

As soon as I got out of sight of the others I took off my shirt and unfurled my wings. I still was wearing envy's crop-top underneath because it let out my wings.

I took a running leap and flapped my wings hard to get air. It was only my second time flying and I had never flown in a thunderstorm before.

_Please let me catch up to Dominique. _I thought_, please let me be able to help._

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**dun dun dun!i am going to conclude this part in another chappy, i know i am really stretching this part out but its a really good part of the story! so sue me.**

**Fern: i would if i was real. get working!**

**PLEASE READ AND REVEIW**


	9. Chapter 8: Tales of Rush Valley Final

**Hey everbody im back ina reasnoble time frame!**

**Fern: yay! does this mean you've stopped procrastination?**

**hush you! i had been forced to be socail!**

**Fern: you really can't spell. it a wonder people actually understand what your writing.**

**okay so ignoring her here is the conclusion to the events in Rush Valley! if you havn't notced by now, i am going off the brotherhood series/ the manga.**

**NOTE: from now on i'm gonna post a new chapter every week on thursdays that way i can't procrastinate. plus school is starting soon so i better get a schedual going.**

* * *

_I took a running leap and flapped my wings hard to get air. It was only my second time flying and I had never flown in a thunderstorm before._

_Please let me catch up to Dominique. I thought; please let me be able to help._

* * *

The rain and thunder roared all around me as I flew along. I was flying low to the ground to avoid getting struck by lightning and to be able to still see the trail. Damm Dominique's donkey for being so fast! I still hadn't seen them and I had been flying for 15 minutes! Another lightning flash lit up the train below me.

There! I saw the small shape of a donkey riding along the side of one of the mountains as the storm raged on. Picking up pace with my wings, I landed on the trail a little bit in front of him as he rounded the bend.

"What the hell are you doing out here kid? How did you _even_ get out here?" Dominique yelled over the rage of the storm.

I faltered for a minute, remembering how he had reacted when he might have seen me breathe fire. Could I trust him with that? Did I really want him to know? He didn't seem to react to the fact I was only in a crop-top shirt but then again my wings were tucked behind my back and it was dark so I think I looked pretty normal.

"I ran really fast to catch up with you almost as soon as you left, I didn't want to be around the mass hysteria at your home." I partially lied. I really did not want to be around 4 panicking people and a very woman in labor, I choose the storm over that scenario. Dominique didn't seem to buy it but said nothing.

"I don't have time to wait for you and there is no room on this mule. You should go back!" he yelled exasperated, is that even possible. And with that he nudged the mule onward sticking true to what he said.

I was not going to be going back home! He would notice if I ran alongside the mule though. I had an idea! I would follow the trail from the air and go into town and get the doctor and meet up with Dominique on the trail! I mentally patted myself on my shoulder and took to the air again.

_Note to self_: don't ever fly in thunderstorms.

Oh my god worst idea ever! Even before it was hard to see through the walls of rain but since running into Dominique the storm had somehow gotten worse. One thing I learned was though thunder was loud when you are on the ground; it was _really loud_ when you were in the air. Lightning would flash periodically and give me a mini heart attack every time it did. After a few minutes of this I could make out the lights of Rush Valley over a mountain ridge. I sped up pace as I flew onward. Landing in town I face palmed as I realized a problem with my plan, I didn't know where a freaking doctor lived in this town!

Putting my top back on I did then next most stupid thing, I barged into a random house "Do you know where the town doctor lives?" I asked as I slammed the door open. 3 pairs of eyes met me in annoyance, confusion and one of terror from the little girl sitting down with her parents for dinner. _Oops_ I thought. Still the question remained. The man stood up from the dinner table with a very serious look on his face. I thought the man was gonna kick me out and yell at me.

"Follow me" was all he said as he left the house.

"Sorry" I said sheepishly as I left. Running after the guy nearly face palmed again. The guy lived 3 doors down from the doctor! I thanked the man and apologized profusely before repeating the action.

"Doctor! I need your help!" I called as I slammed the door open to his home too. He paused with a forkful of noodles hung in his open mouth; god what was it with this town? Did they fell that midnight in a driving rainstorm was perfect time for a meal? The doctor looked annoyed for a minute the seemed to gather his professionalism.

"What seems to be the trouble?" he asked in that _I know exactly what to do _manner.

"A woman is giving birth in the mountains!" I managed to get out. Seeing his expression I explained further "Satera? Ridel's wife? Dominique's daughter-in law?" I tried. His face lit up with recognition.

"Ah Dominique! Is the woman at Dominique's house?" he inquired. I nodded as he went to get his supplies. As I sat there I heard a knock at the door. I looked around; the doctor was in the back and probably didn't hear the door. I opened the door cautiously and there was Dominique standing there, his chest heaving. Upon seeing me at the door and not the doctor he seemed to be a bit surprised.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET HERE!?" he yelled in shock. Okay, a bit surprised was an understatement. Thankfully the doctor decided this was time to make an appearance.

"Ah Dominique, there you are. I was wondering why you sent someone else instead of yourself but no matter, lead the way" the doctor said conversationally as he headed for the door. Dominique shot a glare my way and I returned it. Why was he getting so worked up because I beat him here?

"I thought you said there was no room on the mule for two" I whispered snidely as the doctor headed for the furry transportation. Hoo boy if looks could kill I would have died and gone to hell from the look he shot me as he mounted the mule.

"I'm afraid there's only room for two so you're going to have to walk back" he told me as the mule took off. My jaw dropped comically; he really just left me here miles from the house to walk back? Oh well no matter, my legs could use a good run instead of me flying back. Plus I now had decided I hated flying in thunderstorms.

It was a good run back. I kept my speed down so I didn't run past Dominique and the doctor but I was almost always behind then by a little bit. Sometimes I would take another road just to see where it went. My athleticism had grown by literal leaps and bounds since I had first escaped lab 5. Now I could run… okay I never really tested how far I could run before passing out wheezing but hey over a good 2 mile so far! Turns out the most recent road I had taken led me to the top of a mountain ridge, great scenic outlook but not very helpful. I notice the bridge below it and saw traces of alchemy. Was on the houses side of the bridge, for the win! I wondered if Dominique had made it back yet but decided to wait and watch the storm for awhile. It was still raining buckets but now I was thourghly soaked and didn't care. After about fifteen minutes I got bored of being wet and went to go back to the house. I decided just to walk along the ridge until I got to the house and then make my way down. As I continued walking the storm was now lessening and by the time I got to above the house it had passed altogether. As I began to slide down the ridge I heard the sound of hoof beats and saw Dominique speed in and drag the poor doctor up to the house. I looked up at the sky as the sun came out from behind the clouds; I hadn't realized it but sometime during the whole excursion it had become day. I walked up to the house as Paninya and Al were talking outside.

"Oh there you are Fern, where did you go?" Al asked as I walked over to them.

"Went into town with Dominique to get the doctor" I replied.

"Oh, okay!" he said as he walked off, Mumbling something about cats.  
"So….." Paninya said as Al walked away. "You like Ed?"

"What! No no w-what gave you that idea?" I said as my cheeks flushed. How did she even- oh… the blushing kinda does give it away.

"It's only a little obvious, I don't he's noticed… _yet_" she said and winked.

"I just don't really know how to tell him and besides I don't think it would work too well" I said, deflated. I don't think a regular human and a chimera would make a good couple in my head.

"You have never had a crush before have you? Everyone thinks that but hey, don't know unless you try" she said with a smile "a little advice? Make it a bit more obvious you like him, boys can be really thick"

"Thank you Paninya I think I might just take your advice. I'm gonna go talk to Ed!" I said with newfound confidence.

"Wait don't just tel-"she called but I was already inside.

Ed, Al Winry and the proud mom and dad where standing around a little baby in the arm of Dominique as he was cooing nonsense at the baby. Frankly it was a little disturbing to see that amount of mood swing in the grumpy old man.

"So since Winry delivered your grand-baby, maybe you'll rethink taking her as an apprentice Ed said smoothly as he slid beside Dominique.

"Not a chance. I am grateful you help deliver my grandchild, but I do not take apprentices" he said flatly "but I suppose I could introduce you to a good automail shop in town" coming from this guy that was the closest thing to a favor I think she would get.

Everyone cheered as Winry went to go call her grandmother. Dominique saw me hanging on the edge of the crowd and beckoned for me to follow him. We went into the forge I swear I was sweating bullets from nervousness. What did he suspect?

"Now I think I know what I saw and I wanted to let you know that when you leave here to not do that anymore" he said as he gathered materials for more automail.

"What? You're not mad? Or terrified or confused?" I was confused by what he had just said.

"Why would I be mad? I know I may seem like a grump but I don't hate you. And as for confused well yes I am. Alchemy has always been confusing and I don't make a point to understand it" he said casually as began to heat the forge to shape a sheet of metal.

"Al...chemy?" I stuttered, confused. Did he really not suspect me of being a chimera?

"Yes, that's why I am telling you to be careful. Fire alchemy could be extremely dangerous if used wrong. Plus if the military finds out they will try to recruit you to be a state alchemist." He explained.

I almost fainted right then and there from relief. He thought the fire breathing was just alchemy. Well okay then, and now I had an alibi for breathing fire. He didn't have to know I couldn't do alchemy to save my life. "yeah, I'll be more careful" I promised.

After that I went back into the house and left Dominique to his work. I saw Winry, Al and Ed saying their goodbyes to Ridel and Satera.

"Where are we going? I asked curiously

"Our train is leaving soon so we need to hurry. And Winry wants to go meet this automail shop mechanic" Ed explained.

We said our goodbyes and were on our way out of the mountain range when I heard running footsteps behind us. We turned to see Paninya running up to us.

"Figured you would want this back" she said smiling as she held out my black fedora. I thought I had lost that thing!

"Thank you Paninya! I hope to see you again soon!" I said as I hugged her. We had actually become pretty good friends in the short time I was here.

Turns out our train had come early or we were late, because we had to run catch it as it was pulling out of the station. Ed called a goodbye to Winry as he climbed over the rail. Al made a huge jump and landed on and I the pole as it passed the edge of the platform. We didn't have tickets but turns out you don't need them if you're going to sneak onboard. Or have a person that's a state alchemist.

"Hey Ed, can I ask you something?" I said, planning to tell him that I liked him.

"Huh? Yeah what's up Fern? He asked through a mouthful of brownies. That boy had an affinity to always find a way to get food.

"Umm…" I chickened out. "Where are we going? You never really said before." I asked.

"We're going to go see our teacher in Dublith to see if she can help us out with the philosophers stone." He explained the suddenly seemed to realize something.

Ed and Al had dark aura around the as the both hung their head in shame but were quaking with fear.

"She's gonna kill us"

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**Next time: Dangers in Dublith!**

**Fern: that's really cheesey**

**shush you, cheesey is better that just Chapter 1, Chapter 2. its gives a description!**

**Fern: uh huh *munching bacon***

**hey! where did you get that?**

**Fern: UNTILL NEXT TIME, READ AND REVIEW!**


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